The Weeping Angel
by EvenBirdsNeedToLearnHowToFly
Summary: An assassin regarded highly as a ghost story. Rumored to be trained by the KGB. A kill count of over 200 yet she is only a child. I've always hated the rumors floating around about me. People talk about me as if I don't exist. I wish didn't. I wish the rumors weren't true. But I'm making up for it, wiping out the red. Now I'm part of Strike Team Delta. Now I'm an Avenger.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first ever fanfiction and it's probably terrible but yeah. I have never read the comics so everything I know about the red room is from the movies and agent carter so probably not very cannon compliant. I have never seen the x-men films either so I know fuck all about that either. I don't own anything to do with marvel. The only thing that's mine are the OCs. I'm pretty nervous about posting so please review and tell me what you think. Good? Bad? Fit for nothing but the bin? Idk, you tell me. **

I walked down the bustling New York Street. Whilst I was used to being around this many people, I still preferred my own solitude. Too many variables, risks, unnecessary dangers. But then, I reflected, the world was full of dangers. Life was dangerous, but there was no alternative. No split second endings. Not for me at least. This is my story, from assassin to spy, from killing to saving. From bad to good. This is my story. My life.

* * *

Out of all my missions, all my assassinations, this was the one I was most nervous about. No, not nervous. That's the wrong word, I don't get nervous. At least, I'm not allowed to. Emotions are a weakness and there is no room for weakness. The same monotonous mantra as always played over in my head before I could even attempt to resist the conditioning. It was hopeless even trying, I only went in the room 2 weeks ago, I hadn't even done much wrong. If anything, it was just to get me out of their hair for a while. I'm probably the most… Human out of all the girls in the program. If I wasn't so powerful and good at what I do, I have no doubt that I would have been disabled a long time ago.

But back to the mission, assassinating the Black Widow. After years of chasing her down, sending in disposable assets, they finally brought out the big guns. You see, I'm not just red room trained, I don't just rely on my genetically enhanced features. Nope, I'm a mutant. And a powerful one at that. I'm 11 years old, yet I have the best success rating out of every girl in the program. But that doesn't mean that every mission is a breeze. This is the toughest assignment I have ever been or will be assigned. Not only do I have to face one of the best assets the red room has ever made, I also have the added threat of the avengers.

I was suddenly snapped out of my thoughts by the comm. crackling to life. "Asset, the location should be approaching on your left hand side. Prepare to get into position and commence stage 3."

I ducked my head down and brushed my hair behind my ear, clicking the comm. as I did so before muttering under my breath "Confirm, the tower is up ahead, is the AI down?"

I hoped no one could hear me, I was already getting looks due to my outfit, I didn't need to be seen talking to myself or some moron would start interfering. They wouldn't be able to understand me of course, we were conversing in code as was standard for communications. Code was the language used by the red room to keep its affairs secret. No one outside even knew it existed, let alone be able to understand it. It was a funny language, similar to Russian but completely different at the same time. To any New Yorkers brushing past me, it would sound like I was muttering gobbledegook.

After receiving a confirmation from HQ, I brushed my faded yellow skirt down and took a deep breath as I approached the tower, keeping my eyes downcast and being sure to put on a slight limp. It didn't take much to fake it, my ankle was starting to ache with the lack of support from the tattered Ballet pumps I was wearing. I'd done a longer than usual training session the day before, and my body did not seem to be happy with me. I finally reached the tower, and slinked around to the back, quietly making my way into the undercover area. The AI, called Jarvie I think, would normally be protecting this area, but HQ had him otherwise occupied. I sniffed and made a few tears run down my face, before settling into the corner near the door, protected from the rain that had just started falling down from the heavens. I sniffed again, hoping Intel had their information right and the target was actually in the tower. Hearing the door click open, I internally smiled, knowing that the plan had worked. I pretended not to notice her until she got much closer; remembering to regulate my hearing to what a normal girl of this age would be able to hear. My cover looked up at her with tearful, despairing eyes and gasped when she saw who it was. I scrambled to my feet and took a few panicked steps backwards. She froze where she was standing, raising her hands slowly to show she meant no harm. "I'm sorry", I gasped, making my chest heave and taking in large gulps of air, "I'm sorry miss, I j-just wanted s-somewhere to s-s-stay out of the rain."

"It's alright," she consolidated, taking a step forward before stopping when she saw me flinch away. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Y-you're not?"

"No, you don't have to be afraid. Do you know who I am?"

"You're an avenger." I replied, looking up at her with big green eyes, not unlike her own. This was going exactly as planned, I thought smugly to myself. Intel showed that the Black Widow had a weakness for kids, thought to be because of her childhood and training. Everything on this mission had been carefully planned out; there was no room for mistakes. My eye colour, strikingly similar to hers, to remind her of herself at my age. My clothes, dirty and tattered, to show I had been outside for quite some time. But that didn't mean that everything couldn't go horrifically wrong, this was the Black Widow after all. I couldn't afford to get sloppy, to let my guard down, otherwise I'd end up dead. Worse, the red room would get me. Whilst I had never experienced the punishment for a failed mission first hand, the screams had echoed hauntingly through the cold, concrete walls. Screams of pain, begging for mercy, promising to do better. It was never spoken about, but no one ever failed a mission twice.

Repressing a shudder at the thought of the creative torture I would be sure to face should I fail, I mentally berated myself for losing focus. The Widow had knelt down in front of me and was extending a steady hand towards with, with a warm and friendly smile upon her face. Reaching out to take it, I gave her a watery smile back. The second my fingers latched onto her wrist however, I gave it a sharp twist and promptly snapped the bone before jumping to my feet and dropping my cover.

Although she barely flinched as her bone broke clean in two, the look of pure shock and surprise on her face was almost funny. She didn't even attempt to cover her emotions, allowing herself a second to take in the situation before slipping into a fighting stance, letting her limp wrist hang beside her, a snarl clear in her voice as she addressed me.

"You know, Madame really needs to learn to stop sending agents after me. It's almost like she enjoys having them sent back in pieces."

"The Black Widow.", I glanced over her with a predatory look in my eyes, "Highly regarded as the most well-known and dangerous asset the red room ever made. Extremely gifted at espionage and infiltration. Longest successful mission run ever, until I came along at least. And look what you've become. A traitor, working for the government of the USA, and above all, a do-gooder."

"You're a little young aren't you?" She said, not responding to my little dig. "Normally the girls they send at least look like they know how to tie a shoe lace."

I stopped listening, my keen ears instead picking up on the faint sounds of footsteps running down the stairs towards us. Shit, the avengers must know somethings up, but how? The Widow couldn't have contacted them, I had checked her for electronics as soon as she came near enough and there was no comm. Or any other form of communication. The robot might have alerted them, but HQ had said they had it temporarily disabled. But somehow, they knew, and were obviously coming to stop me. Interrupting her meaningless stalling, I swept her legs out from underneath her before launching myself onto her. After all, what did I have to lose?


	2. Chapter 2

**So, chapter two. I'm not too happy with this but I've been over it multiple times and I'm going to drive myself crazy if I keep messing with it. I've also got very annoyed at word over the last week, I swear to god if it tells me off for 'wordiness' one more time I'm going to do… Something. I'm not a doctor or a scientist or anything other than a sad, lonely person with an over-active imagination and too much spare time on their hands. Therefore, nothing in this is scientifically correct or medically correct and if you're going to google it and then prove that It isn't possible, don't bother. My crazy insomniac brain wrote this at 3am, everything in here is made up. Except for the avengers and everything marvel related, which I don't own. Warnings for language, references to attempted suicide and for wanting to punch me in the face for my horrific grammar (please don't, I like my face). **

As I lept towards her, she rolled out of the way and back up to her feet, immediately attacking. Punch, punch, block, kick, dodge. We started to get more violent with a few gymnastics moves thrown in there as well. I back flipped out of the way, stumbling and nearly falling when I hastily had to dodge a lethal looking knife aimed at my head. Regaining my balance, I pulled out one of my many concealed knives. Whilst I would have preferred this to just be hand-to-hand, I was still just as confident that I could hold my own. Hearing the footsteps getting closer and wanting to finish this before the rest of her team arrived, I attacked with a little more urgency, attempting to plunge my knife into her at every opening I could.

I was having little success though, and upon hearing the door open I knew that this mission was about to get a hell of a lot harder. My handler wasn't going to be happy when he heard the avengers had got involved. Whilst it wasn't the end of the world if a knife was to find its way into one of their carotid arteries, it was less than ideal. Tangling with the avengers was tangling with S.H.I.E.L.D and that never bode well.

The door burst open, the avengers spilling out and surrounding me nearly instantly. They were an intimidating site, even though Captain America was sporting a flannel shirt and old man trousers whilst the human hulk appeared to be wearing a lab coat. The scientist was obviously hanging back, not wanting to unleash his alter ego in such a built up area.

"Stand down and you will not be harmed."

It was the super soldier who spoke. Standing in his classic pose, the perfect picture of peace and justice. I was struck with hatred and jealousy so fierce I had to stop myself from growling at him, for fear of resembling a rabid dog. This man was internationally famous, renowned for being the world's first superhero, for helping to win the war. But he volunteered. He put himself through scientific experiments to get where he is, he had a choice. There were hundreds upon hundreds of girls who didn't have that choice, who were taken from their homes and forced to kill and to hurt. Who had had their sense of self taken away, and they aren't known all over the world. People talk about how brave Captain America is and how he had sacrificed his life for the greater good.

At least he had that decision; I would be dead a thousand times over if i hadn't been made immortal against my own choice. The amount of times I had attempted to end my life in order to stop any more innocent people being killed. Fucking Red Room. The only way I could be killed is if I was injected with a reverser for the Red Room serum. The reverser that the Red Room have control over and only use when it's a fight to the death or they decide an operative needs terminating. They have the ultimate power over our lives. As I said, fucking Red Room.

"Fuck that Steve, I'm not letting her go free."

"I never said she would be free, I said she wouldn't be harmed. There's a difference."

"She's not going to stand down though, you know that right? Not with the murderous look you're getting. Oh look, it's directed at me now. Someone got out of the wrong side of bed this morning, didn't they?" Upon hearing Starks quip, I had turned my glare on him, taking the opportunity to give him a good look over. He had his faceplate raised, allowing me to survey his face. His perfectly kept goatee and brown eyes, sparkling with mirth, stood out as he looked at me curiously.

"Shut it Stark. This isn't the time."

"Yes, mother."

The glare Stark received from the Widow was impressive, to say the least. A lesser man would have been quaking in his boots but Stark only gave his trademark grin and winked.

"Any idea who she is, Nat? Cus she definitely knows you."

I knew who had spoken even without looking. The amazing Hawkeye. We had crossed paths a few years back. An important political figure previously affiliated with the KGB had been dealing secrets underneath the table. S. H. I. E. L. D had sent their best assassin to take him out, whilst the Red Room had sent me to silence him. Spotting him at the café where I was observing the target certainly made my mission a lot more… Interesting, to say the least.

"Oh, Barton. Don't you remember me?" I said breathily, "What if I was blonde, a bit taller and I don't know, wearing pink jeans, would that ring a bell?" I said, changing my voice to have an American accent whilst looking at him flirtatiously. I would have changed my features to look like I did at the time, but I wasn't keen on revealing the fact that I was a mutant just yet. If things took a turn for the worst, their ignorance might just save me.

"... Cassie?" He looked shocked when I nodded, still in character but careful not to take my eyes off of the other avengers. "But you... You're like what 9?

"I'm 11. Funny what a little make up and high heels can do, isn't it sugar bunzel?" I responded, using the pet name I had given him during our encounter.

"Oh my fucking god, I snogged an 8 year old. What the fuck? But… But no, she… Holy shit I was crushing on an 8 year old."

"Wow Barton, that's a new record, even for me. Considering you're a secret agent, you're pretty shocked by that revelation aren't you, bird brain?" Upon receiving a middle finger in response from a very dazed looking Barton, Stark turned his focus back to me. "So you're like what, a child prostitute or something?"

"Stark, I swear to god if you don't shut your mouth I will personally ensure that you can't open it ever again. You have no idea what we're dealing with here."

"Well then my dear Natasha, please do enlighten us."

It almost pained me to interrupt what was sure to be an interesting murder, but I wanted a dramatic introduction. I couldn't trust the widow would do my spectacular self (or my ego) justice.

"I am the Weeping Angel.", stepping forwards and moulding my face into the perfect psychopathic mask, I continued, "Many don't believe I'm real, but I am. Many don't believe me when I say I have murdered hundreds of people, but I have. Many don't believe me when I say I will kill them, but they always end up dead. So believe me when I say, Avengers, that I will end you. Slowly, painfully, until you would wish for something as sweet as pain."

A loud cackle coming from Stark caused both me and Natalie to glare at him. "You know that you sound like the intro to a corny superhero movie?' He gasped in-between his extremely agitating laughing. "I can just imagine it now, slow rising smoke whilst a deep, dramatic voice warns the heroes of their inevitable death."

I was going to kill that bastard.

The second I moved the avengers simultaneously reacted, they were on top of me just seconds after I had pounced on Stark. He had hastily lowered his faceplate but wasn't quick enough to get out of the way. I pulled out my strongest, sharpest knife and dug it into one of the joints of the armour, feeling immensely satisfied when it severed several wires before sinking into flesh. His yelp of pain did nothing to lower my spirits as I ducked behind him and flipped out of the reach of the Captain who was quickly approaching. I hurled a knife at his shin and quickly kicked out at his face in his moment of distraction. The Hulk-man wasn't expecting the medium sized rock carefully aimed at his head, he was out before he even knew what had happened, exactly as I had intended. I did not want the Hulk getting out.

The 2 assassins came at me together, a perfectly synchronised attack, The Widow relying on grace and precision whilst Barton was more speed and strength. They were a deadly combination and they knew it. Even I had heard of their Strike Team, a lethal, unbeatable force that won every fight it got into. But there was a reason why I had the highest success rate of any operative. Dodging Barton's fist I dove to the ground, rolling over and over until I came up behind The Widow. I jumped onto her shoulders with the intention of slitting her throat but didn't get very far before Barton barrelled into me, knocking both me and his partner to the floor. I quickly slammed his head into the ground, whilst turning around to throw a knockout gas grenade back at the other two who were getting back to their feet. I couldn't see Thor anywhere but I had bigger things to worry about, like a very pissed Black Widow. Both Stark and the Captain were passed out on the ground. Good, I thought, I wasn't sure if the suit would protect Stark from the poison or not. The gas wouldn't affect me and Natalia, the kind I had used was one that the red room had made us resistant to, but I could see Barton fading. Seeing him searching on the ground for something, I noticed 2 small devices that he was attempting to insert into his ears with very shaky hands. Huh, I didn't know he was deaf. I must have knocked his aids out when I pushed his head into the ground. It was just down to me and the Widow now, circling each other like wild cats. She attacked, kneeing me in the stomach before attempting to jump onto my shoulder, obviously trying to do her famous neck snap move. But at the last second I rolled under her, letting her tumble to the ground. As she landed, there was a sickening crunch and upon further inspection, I noticed her ankle sticking out at a nauseating angle. Stamping down hard on the broken bone caused her to go pale as a sheet, and she looked like she was about to faint. I carefully stepped around her and kneeled down, placing my knife to her neck. Whispering sinisterly in her ear, I gently broke the skin, allowing beads of blood to appear. "I warned you, but you didn't believe me. "

The click of a rifle stopped me in my tracks. I slowly looked up to find about 50 machine guns aimed directly at my head. An English, robotic sounding voice came from above. 'I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Fuck. I quickly pressed my comm. and sent a message to HQ in code. Natalia would be able to translate it later but Jarvis wouldn't be able to understand it now and that was all I needed. "You said the AI was down!" I waited, but there was no response, "HQ, come in." I clicked my comm. again, waiting for confirmation but there was only static. I grumbled a few curses under my breath; it looked like I was going to have to get myself out of this mess. I looked up to address the… thing but was instead distracted by the huge hammer rushing towards my face. There was no way I could get out of it's way in time. I felt it connect hard with the side of my head and was quickly consumed by the darkness. It looked like I had found Thor.


	3. Chapter 3

**So, look at me, 2 chapter in 4 days? I think it's 4. But yeah, I'm not too happy with this chapter, it's hard to find that balance between giving enough background for it to make sense and not giving the whole story away. Shout out to , ebarnea25, Alma bipolar, Pandoraandamanda077, The way ward beacon, Macdisney123 and SiriusJohnPotter. Thanks so much for all your lovely follows and favs, they honestly make my day. **

I woke up strapped to a bed in what smelt like a medical wing. My arms and legs were all tied down separately, as well as a strap across my middle and my forehead. I couldn't move. That alone was enough to freak me out, whenever the Red Room was going to test us or torture us or whatever they liked to call it, they would strap us down in the exact same way. My throbbing head brought me back down to earth as I realised where I was. I must not have been here too long, I could feel an impressive lump on my head. My healing factor would have sorted out any damage done by the hammer should I have been any longer than about 10 minutes.

I had not opened my eyes yet, ingrained spy tactics for which I was very glad. I could hear quiet mutterings from somewhere in the room. It soon became clear it was the avengers, or at least some of them. "Has Bruce woken up yet?" I couldn't identify who was speaking but Bruce must be the hulk-man, the one who I had knocked out with a stone.

"Nah, still sleeping, I checked in on him a few minutes ago. How's the leg Tash?"

"Sore." A strained sounding voice came from my left. "She should wake up soon, her healing factor will quickly sort out the concussion."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Tell you what?"

Barton sounded tired when he replied, "You know what. We could have helped you, sorted out the Red Room before it got to this."

"It was my problem, I didn't want to get anyone else involved."

"Bullshit. We've been over this hundreds of times. We're a team, what's your problem is my problem."

"She's awake."

"What? How do you know?"

"Her breathing, it hitched when you said Red Room." I could hear footsteps getting closer before she spoke again, "Come on, we know you're awake."

I opened my eyes, blinking for a moment to get used to the low lighting. I was right, Thor, Barton and Natalia were in the room. "How long has it been?" I asked in English, not bothering to hide my accent. They knew who I was after all and unless I was wrong we were about to be burnt to a crisp anyway.

"About 15 minutes."

"Then we're all dead." I said, closing my eyes again.

"What?"

"It's a defence mechanism put in place after Natalia defected. I've missed a check in, they will think I have either died, got captured or have defected. Especially with you cutting my connection to them."

The 2 assassins looked towards Stark with their eyebrows raised, but he only shook his head before all of them looked back at me, confused.

"That...wasn't you?"

"No." They answered together.

I looked at them, my brain ticking over. "Jarvis was never down, was he?"

"No? He was the one who alerted Natasha to your presence."

"They lied to you? They said he was down?" The Widow had realised what I was talking about.

"Yes. They said he was down and that the other Avengers wouldn't know or get involved. And then when I tried to get a hold of them again, they cut my feed."

"They sent you on a suicide mission."

"No, they didn't. They want something."

"How can you be sure? Unless it's changed, that's definitely the kind of thing they would do."

I ignored her, thinking back to what my handler had said before dropping me off. "_I trust you will do well, Tatiana." _I knew something had felt off. "This is a test."

"Well then why aren't you trying to complete it?"

"As I said, self destruct button. I failed the test, there's nothing I can do. Once i miss the next check in, everything in a 50 meter radius is toast."

"What if we could get it out?" I flicked my eyes in her direction to see a thoughtful expression upon her deadly face.

"Sorry?"

"I assume it's implanted in you?"

"Well, yes. But why would you help me? Aren't you just going to stick me on a helicopter and hope it gets far enough away before I blow up?"

"Because you're different. You are here speaking to us, not attempting to break the bonds holding you down. You weren't aiming to kill the others in the fight. But most importantly, you flinched when Barton mentioned the Red Room. You don't want to do what you do, but you have no choice. Your human, rather than the usual mindless robot they send after me."

"Don't tell me what I am! You don't know me!" I hissed at her murderously.

"You're right, I don't know. But I know myself. When Barton here offered me a chance to defect, to leave them behind, I wanted it. I took the chance because I was sick of killing and of hurting people, yet couldn't find a way out. I think you're the same."

I was about to reply when I detected a presence in my head. A telepath. Startled, I attempted to jump out of the bed, failing miserably due to the straps I had forgotten about in my panic. My breathing sped up as I made them disappear with my powers, secrecy be damned. My legs felt like jelly and my body felt heavy, I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. I collapsed the second my full weight was on my legs, backing myself into a corner. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. Someone was in my head, they had control. I could feel myself shaking and was desperately trying to heave oxygen into my lungs that were refusing to work. My vision was flickering, I wasn't in the dark room anymore, I was strapped to a chair in a bright operating theater. Aleksandr hovered over me. His mouth was moving but no words could be heard over the rushing in my ears. I gagged on thin air, feeling extremely dizzy whilst my vision darkened, Aleksandr giving way to the darkness. Something touched my arm and I lashed out, desperate to defend myself, desperate to keep him out of my head. Arms restrained me, stopped me from fighting. I was vaguely aware of hot tears streaming down my face as I kicked and pushed, uncoordinated. Voices shouted in my ear but everything was fuzzy, muffled. Memories flew past me, taunting me before flying away. LeBron. Cold metal beds. Hands holding me down as a scream echoed into the distance. A haunting faced pressed against mine. Emma. Emma. Her face, freckled and tanned, even in the Siberian winter. Her love for coffee and pretzels. Her insistence on safe words, holding me tight as I struggled to breathe. Her eyes, once so full of life, empty as she lay there, dead, whilst madame applauded. Dead. I gasped again, my breaths getting more desperate as my lungs screamed for air. I pushed back into the wall, shaking, as Ivan appeared, praising me, rewarding me for a job well done. I couldn't get them out of my head, I couldn't make them leave. "Нет, пожалуйста, нет." I whispered as Madame appeared, holding a file. Dead. Handcuffs. Empty corridors. Dead. Dead. Dead. Above all the screaming and shouting and noise rushing through my ears, I heard a gentle voice, calm and reassuring. "Ты в безопасности, Тэмми". Safe. Tammy. Safe. I repeated the word over and over, finding my breathing come a bit easier. Aleksandr was fading, his hair slowly turning red. Red. That wasn't right. I scrunched my eyes and shook my head, feeling some clarity come back to me. Safe, I'm safe. I opened my eyes again, relieved to see a dim room instead of an operating theater. My hearing cleared up, allowing me to understand what was being said. I slowly looked up and around, noticing 5 avengers looking back at me. Huh, that was new. I cleared my throat and asked, hesitantly, "Who was in my head? Someone was- someone was in my head." All at once, everyone in the room turned to look at Tony.

"Really? Really? Are you honestly that stupid?" Natalia sounded very pissed off.

"I was trying to see if she was secretly planning to murder us all. And anyway, I calmed her down again didn't I?

Calmed her down? Safe. Suddenly everything clicked in my head. "You fucking bastard." Even I was surprised at the amount of malice in the short phrase. "You not only went inside my head, but then you did it again, accessing memories you had no right to access! Using the secrets you came across to control me?" I was growling at him, and would have squared up to him should I have thought my legs would support me.

"Explain." The short but powerful demand came from the Widow, and I did without hesitation. I'd lost any dignity I ever had with my little… Freak Out.

"There is a man. At the Red Room. He's called Aleksandr and he's a mutant. A telepath to be precise. He's from the Ukraine, the Red Room heard about him and persuaded him to join. They use him to...persuade you to do things, when they want you to obey them but not fully conditioned. Or he will be used as a punishment, you misbehave and have your control taken away. He has access to every thought, every secret. He takes you along for a ride in your own head, makes you do things you have no control over and you can do nothing about it. It's horrible, worse than conditioning. He could just sit there in your head all day, watching everything you do and just every so often send a sharp jolting pain through your head just for the fun of it. When I felt a presence in my head, I was back there and he was torturing me, playing with me before taking over. And you will be trapped in a cage, screaming and crying to be let out as he murders tiny babies with your body, your hands. He will leave you to wash the blood off of your hands, the blood you unwillingly spilled. And whenever you complain, or plead, or begg, he just tells you to stop caring. To stop feeling."

Natalia looked unaffected at my story but the other avengers looked vaguely green and nauseous. "And the thing about Stark accessing memories, how he 'calmed you down'?"

I didn't want to tell her, i wanted to run away as far as possible. I wanted to forget, not relive, but that wasn't an option, so I opened my mouth and started to talk. "Emma was my friend. She was the only thing that kept me sane, the reason why I still have my humanity. All the other girls don't know who they are, they have lost their sense of self. But I haven't. I know who I am and what I am doing, and I hate it, but I have no choice. I have tried multiple times to kill myself, to end the suffering of myself and everyone I hurt, but it simply isn't possible. The serum is so effective that the only way I can die is of old age or if I get the serum reverser. I was taken to the red room when I was 4, they took me from my house in Spain when they killed my parents. Emma was taken when she was 6, both her parents had recently died from cancer and she had been taken from the orphanage. I was starting to lose myself then, forget who I was in between all the blood and murder. She helped me regain what I had lost, to find myself again. We were best friends and stuck together, helped each other out. She created a safe word, more of a phrase really, to help ground one of use when we had a panic attack or had been recently conditioned. That safe word was what Stark used against me, helping to ground me."

"She died didn't she?" I pulled my head up to quickly look at Stark, he backed off quickly and I realised I had been glaring at him. "When I went inside your head, I saw a girl, a dead girl, and the overwhelming grief and despair you felt was what made that stick out, what made me dig deeper until i found your 'safe word' as you call it."

"Yes, she is dead."

"How?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I couldn't say it. I knew it was weak and pathetic. I knew it was dangerous to have such a weakness, that it would be used against me, but i just could not form the words in my mouth. So I showed them, pushing the memory of that day into their minds.

_The sun was warm, beating down on the girls faces as they stood in a circle. There were only 20 of them, the rest had been killed off. It was the annual напоминание, designed to remind them of the power of the institute, to show them they will always be the lesser. Two girls would be picked, at random, to fight to the death. The courtyard was pretty, flowers and trees blooming in the Russian sun. The woman, her mousy hair up in a bun, walked forwards with grace one only gets from being a dancer and picked up an ornate bowl from the ground. The sun glittered on the gold pattern that danced around the edges as she placed her hand inside it and gave the cards inside a quick shuffle. She picked one and read the name out loud. "Tatiana." A girl, Tatiana, stepped forwards into the ring formed by the circle of girls and smirked around at everyone. The woman placed her hand back inside the bowl and removed another card. "Edora." A girl standing on the opposite side of the circle to the first visibly paled before standing forwards, looking the other in the eye. They were friends. A voice sounded in the second girls head, the other girl was speaking to her telepathically. "I'll pretend to trip and you can get me in a headlock. It's the easiest way."_

"_No! I can't kill you, and anyway, if you pretend to fail she will know, and will kill me anyway. At least you can make it quick."_

"_Emma, I can't survive here without you. I can't kill you."_

"_You have to. I will end up dead at the end of this fight one way or another, I would rather it be you than anyone else. I trust you."_

_The first girl looked the other in the eye, she knew there was no other way. She had to kill her. The woman hit a gong and the two girls began to fight, graceful yet powerful, almost mesmerising to watch. In less than a minute the first girl had the other on the floor, and looking into her eyes, stamped down hard on her neck, instantly breaking it. The girls cheered whilst the woman clapped, but all the girl could see, could think of was her friend. Her normally bright and curious eyes were dull and lifeless as she lay, unmoving, on the floor. A single tear leaked out of the corner of her eye, mixing with the rain on the floor that had just begun to fall. _

I could see the moment the avengers snapped back to the real world. Natasha quickly got up and left, in hindsight that was quite dangerous, I could have easily triggered her conditioning. The other avengers looked at each other as the same question raced through all of their minds - What do we do?


	4. Chapter 4

**I've been a bit slow with this the past week, however, a 4-hour train journey yesterday means that not only did I finish this and now have half of chapter 5 waiting, but a Clint, Natasha and Coulson one shot should be coming out tomorrow as well. Yay! Or not, it might be shit. But if you want to see that then please follow me, and this story because I have plans for this to 50+ chapters. I already have 2 one-shots posted and another multi- chapter story should be starting some point in the near future. Trigger warnings for slight injury detail, contemplation of suicide and for a kinda operation without anaesthetic. I think it counts as suicide. I don't own anything to do with Marvel and the only thing I do own is my OCs. Shout out to DearInfinity, Catcatcar123 and Katie owl for being awesome. **

Around 5 minutes later, the Widow walked back in, supporting an unsteady hulk man. She helped him to a chair and leant back against a wall, looking me over. "How long until your next check in?"

"4 minutes 37 seconds."

She blinked, not expecting such a precise time. "So if we could get the failsafe out, would they have any other way to get to you?"

"No, they would be able to find me pretty easy but without the failsafe, there's no way for them to make me explode unless they get Aleksandr close enough to blow up my brains."

"Ok, then. Do you know where it is?"

"Inside my left shoulder blade, wired to both my nervous and cardiovascular system. The bomb is mutation resistant to prevent me from being able to disable it and the only way to get to it is to drill straight into the bone at an angle I can't reach. However, the second it is disconnected, it will blow up violently, frying anything within 50 meters. The large range of the explosion is to deter me from purposely missing check points and attempting to blow myself up, they know that the risk to civilians would stop me even thinking about it."

The avengers looked at each other, trying to figure out the best way not to blow up half of Manhattan. Stark spoke up "I've got a bomb proof box somewhere, if we keep it connected to the last second we can attempt to contain the explosion. But that won't sort out the fact that the second we cut it you will probably drop dead, they aren't just going to wire it to your systems but no do anything."

"It's fine. When you cut the wire, it will automatically attempt to send a blade into my heart. I could stop it with my powers but it's probably best I don't. Saves you a job doesn't it?"

"Saves us a - We're not going to kill you!" Barton looked shocked.

"You're...not?"

"No. To be honest I don't know what's going happen to you, but I can guarantee that we won't kill you. That's not the sort of thing that S.H.I.E.L.D does."

"Oh. What _do_ they do then?"

"They help people, people like you who have never had a choice, who are in a bad place. I mean they kill people as well, obviously, but not good people."

"And what makes you believe that I am a good person? You've known me for not even half an hour, and I was either unconscious or trying to kill you for most of that."

At this point, Natalia interjected. "As I said earlier, you're human rather than a mindless robot. And you flinched when Barton mentioned the Red Room, you obviously don't agree with what they do."

"Of course I don't. The only reason I do it is because I have no choice. There is no way to resist. If you show even the slightest hesitation its straight back to conditioning."

"Er, hate to break up this lovely chat but we are racing against the clock here." It was the first time I heard hulk-man speak and his voice surprised me. I wasn't expecting such a soft and gentle voice from a man who regularly turns into a huge green rage monster. "Yup. Jarvis can you send Dummy up with the box and appropriate tools?"

"He is waiting by the door Sir; I took the liberty of sending him upstairs after your plan was decided."

"Thanks J." Stark opened the door, allowing a small metal robot to wheel into the room. Dummy must be a robot then, I had assumed he was a slave of some sort. He took the box from its claws and patted the… thing on its head. "2 minutes 52 seconds." I smirked when Stark's hands sped up ever so slightly. Honestly, I wasn't so bothered if I blew up but I'm sure that everyone else in this tower wouldn't be pleased if it went kaboom.

When he got the equipment readied, he looked over at the others. "Who's doing this?" All the eyes except mine flicked to hulk-man. Errrrr, nope. Not happening. "No offence, Bruce did they say your name was? But I don't want a green rage monster inside me." Upon hearing a smothered giggle come from my left, I promptly took hold of the pliers Stark was holding and hit him round the head with them. Not hard enough to knock him out, but definitely hard enough to hurt. "Get your mind out of the gutter Stark." The Captain seemed to agree with me. "And Tatiana, he has the hulk under control. He's the only one out of us with more medical knowledge than your basic field first aid."

No part of me was pleased about the situation, but it could be worse. I've had worse. At least it's someone who I have no prior knowledge of than someone who I hate and would under no circumstances trust. *Cough Aleksandr, *cough Ivan. Stark handed Bruce a needle of what looked like local anaesthetic. Yeah, right. "Is that anaesthetic?" I asked, nodding towards the syringe. "Yeah, I know that if your metabolism is anything like Tasha's then it won't last long but it's better than nothing."

"No, it's not. My metabolism is about 10 times faster than Natalia's. That will have no effect on me."

"Oh. Let's hope you have a similar pain tolerance then." He looked towards before nodding towards me, indicating that he should get along with it. "2 minutes until the check in." I helpfully chimed in as I leant back against the bed.

Bruce picked up a scalpel and sliced the skin under my left shoulder. I felt the pain immediately but dulled the nerves with my powers so I wouldn't feel anything. He pulled the skin back with his gloves fingers and picked up a drill. Turning to me and mouthing an apology, he drilled down into the bone until it clinked against something metal. He carefully manoeuvred the smaller pliers into the sizeable hole and gripped onto the small metal box buried within my bone before pulling it out.

"I feel like I'm in real life operation." He joked before noticing the blank expression on my face. "Operation? The board game? No? Okay then, never mind." Stark was ready and waiting with the box and when the wire would not come out any further, he looked over at me. "Stop the blade, yeah?" I felt like it was a test, a choice. To live or to die. I could stop the blade and see what happens, see what S.H.I.E.L.D does to me or I could let it create a large hole in my heart. A hole large and deep enough to kill a normal person in seconds. Added with the poison in the blade that would slow my healing, I would die. I would be proven mortal. Had you have given me choice an hour ago; I would have let the blade continue its intended course, no hesitation. No though I wasn't so sure. I looked Bruce in the eyes and nodded. I would stop it, stop it and take a leap into the unknown. Into S. H. I. E. L. D.

He brought the scissors up and snipped the wire before nearly throwing it into the waiting containment box. The second I felt the tension of the wire dissipate, I sealed a protective coating around my heart to stop the blade. I couldn't directly affect the blade or poison as it was mutation resistant but I could stop it from doing any damage. The force of the explosion was enough for Stark to lose his grip and for the box to fall to the floor. It sat there shaking for a moment with the kinetic shock before lying still. Everyone simultaneously let out a breath of relief. I could feel my shoulder starting to heel and quickly used my powers to bring the wires back into me and put them back into place. It was much more dangerous to attempt to remove them, they were still tangled up in my main systems after all. At least now they couldn't blow up at a moment's notice. We had done it, with 23 seconds to spare. For once in my life, I had one up on the Red Room. I had beaten them. From the corner of my eye, I saw Natalia watching me and when I looked over at her, she smiled at me. Tentatively, I smiled back. I didn't know what would happen, whether I was even free from the Red Room. They could always find me again, take me back. But what I experienced that day had given me some hope. There was good in the world after all.


	5. Chapter 5

**This is a lot longer than I intended it to be but I couldn't find a good pace to end it. And now we have Fury, woo. I don't own anything to do with Marvel, the only thing that is mine is my OCs. Trigger warnings for talks of suicide and death and that kind of thing. As I said in a previous author's note, I have no clue of anything medical so anything even remotely doctory is made up. And anything to do with mutants because never seen the x men and have no idea how powers of telepathy and all that works. Please review, constructive more than welcome. Shout out to Megan-Jade98, it really makes my day seeing that someone has taken the time to review my work. **

Shortly after the fail-safe was removed, I was taken to a holding cell and handcuffed to the chair in the middle. I wasn't sure if they thought it would stop me or whether it was just protocol but it was completely pointless. I had no intention of running anyway. Where would I go? The red room would terminate me upon sight, they would have realised I had taken the fail-safe out now. I couldn't make it as a freelancer, I was only 11 after all and whilst I was more than capable to take any mission they threw at me, people wouldn't believe me if I walked up to them and told them I was an assassin. My only choice was to stay put and see what would happen to me.

I was sat there for a few hours. There was no way to tell but I trusted my internal clock. I was starting to get peckish by the time the door swing open. Whilst the Red Room had engineered its operatives to go weeks without sleep if need be, our mega metabolisms meant that we needed regular meals. I kept my eyes on the front wall but investigated with my powers. A tall, intimidating man stood in the doorway, leather trench coat and eye patch. Who does think he is, Captain Hook? I slipped discreetly into his mind, subtle enough that he shouldn't be able to feel anything.

"Get out of my head."

I looked up at him but kept digging. He shouldn't have been able to feel me so must have just been assuming. However, I quickly slammed into a barrier. Recognising Stark's signature from when he went on a little… Mind dip of his home I surrendered. Whilst it would be interesting to see how powerful he was, this wasn't the time. "Happy?" I put a strong American accent on just for the hell of it. "No."

He walked forward until he was standing above me and crossed his arms, looking down on me. "I'm Director Fury, head of S. H. I.E. L. D. We have been looking for you since Kansas, since you tricked one of my best agents before taking the prize for yourself. You are quite famous in the intelligence community, although no one really knows who you are. As much as it pains me to say, the only information we have on you is from Agent Romanoff and her connections in Russia. There's been a few leads here and there, a few trails sent after you but somehow none of them have ever lead to anything of interest. And now I know how you do it. You're a mutant."

I wasn't sure what to say to that so I just stayed silent.

"Why did you help the avengers to get the bomb out of you? Why did you agree to it instead of trying to escape and make the checkpoint?"

"Because I hate the Red Room. They keep me prisoner and force me to kill people. Why would I try to escape? Sitting in a cell for the next 20 years is a lot better than going back there."

"Then why do you do it?"

"Work for the Red Room? Because I hardly have a choice do I? They killed my parents and took me from my house in Spain when I was four. They modified me, gave me a serum, put metal in my bones. Put a bomb inside of me that would kill anyone within a 50 meter radius. Conditioned me so I would turn into a mindless robot at their demand. Most of the girls don't even know what they are doing, don't have a sense of self. It's worse than death, death would be heaven compared to that place. I lost count of the amount of times I tried to commit suicide over the years in numerous different ways. Stabbing, drowning, shooting, cutting, hanging. Nothing works. I'm immortal."

I was quite pleased at the slightly taken aback look upon his face. "Then why do you have a 'sense of self' as you put it. Why are you different?"

Not this again. I wonder if Stark's barrier would alloy for me to send Fury into a memory. "I can show you."

"Show me?"

"Yes, immerse you in a memory, or a few memories. It's easier than explaining."

He looked like he was about to say something when his eye flicked upwards. A sign of talking to a telepath. Must be Stark. He looked back down at me with his one, kind of freaky eye and agreed. I took a minute to prepare myself, it was hard to take complete control of someone's mind, especially if I didn't want to see the memories myself. I kept my gaze on him as I wound my power into his mind, taking control and pushing him into the memory.

_A girl walks up an elaborate wooden staircase, careful not to make a noise. Her mind is blank, empty. She dreams of long ago days, sitting in the Spanish sun with her mother and father, her dog dancing around chasing butterflies. She pauses momentarily, looking out into the frozen countryside surrounding the compound. It was cold here. She hated the cold. It reminded her of night, the stainless steel beds, the handcuffs. She grips at her wrist, her bony fingers covering up the scars left there from night upon night of handcuffs rubbing her skin. Her feet ached and bled from hours of pointe work and her back throbbed from a recent beating but she found she didn't mind. The pain grounded her, helped her to feel more real. She didn't feel much nowadays, she couldn't remember the last time she felt happy. Or warm. She hated the cold. _

_The same girl is sitting on a bed, but she is older now. She looks down at where the handcuffs had pinched her skin in the night. She dug her nails into the bleeding marks, relishing the pain. Everyone was silent and still. The last pair of handcuffs was opened and everyone stood up simultaneously, forming a line heading towards the bathroom. The girl in front of her suddenly stuck her leg out and not paying attention, she fell and hit her head hard against a metal bed frame. She pushed herself up from the floor, feeling dizzy at the force of the blow but rejoined the back of the line nevertheless. No one paid her any attention, she wasn't well liked. She was the teacher's pet, Madame's favourite. Ivan's favourite. That wasn't a good thing but she didn't have a choice. She never had a choice. A draft blew in from a crack in a window as she walks past and she shivers. She hates the cold. _

_A new girl is standing at the front of the class. A girl that has never been seen before. She is introduced as Edora. When the girl speaks she has an American accent. She sits down in the only available desk, it is next to the girl. She is older yet again this time, around 7. The new girl, Edora, smiles at her but receives a blank face back. The girl can't remember how to smile. She feels cold on the inside, she hates the cold. _

_A group of girls are running down a lane. It's cold, snow coats the distant mountains. 2 girls are noticeably ahead of the others, it is Edora and the girl. Edora trips, and the girl quickly helps her up again before the instructor sees. None of the other girls tell him, they just want to get inside. They hate the cold. _

_2 girls are alone in a small room. There are 2 beds and a set of drawers each. They are sat on one of the beds, chatting away like there is no tomorrow. A knock sound son their door and they fall silent, standing up and leaving the room. It's cold in the hallway. They hate the cold. _

_The 2 girls are in the room again, one is asleep whilst one is sitting on her bed, fiddling with a ratty bracelet on her wrist. She stands up and closes her eyes. It takes a minute but a cup of coffee appears in them. It's warm and she holds it to her chest, imagining the heat working its way inside her and warming her heart. She puts it on the girls beside and steps backwards, smiling. She has found her emotions again, she has remembered how to smile. She feels the warmth leaving her body and sighs, she hates the cold. _

_The sun was warm, beating down on the girls faces as they stood in a circle. There were only 20 of them now, the rest had been killed off. It was the annual напоминание, designed to remind them of the power of the institute, to show them they will always be the lesser. Two girls would be picked, at random, to fight to the death. The courtyard was pretty, flowers and trees blooming in the Russian sun. A woman, her mousy hair up in a bun, walked forwards with grace one only gets from being a dancer and picked up an ornate bowl from the ground. The sun glittered on the gold pattern that danced around the edges as she placed her hand inside it and gave the cards inside a quick shuffle. She picked one and read the name out loud. "Tatiana." The girl, Tatiana, stepped forwards into the ring formed by the circle of girls and smirked around at everyone. The woman placed her hand back inside the bowl and removed another card. "Edora." A girl standing on the opposite side of the circle to the first visibly paled before standing forwards, looking the other in the eye. They were friends. A voice sounded in Edora's head, the other girl was speaking to her telepathically. "I'll pretend to trip and you can get me in a headlock. It's the easiest way."_

"_No! I can't kill you, and anyway, if you pretend to fail she will know, and will kill me anyway. At least you can make it quick."_

"_Emma, I can't survive here without you. I can't kill you."_

"_You have to. I will end up dead at the end of this fight one way or another, I would rather it be you than anyone else. I trust you."_

_The girl looked Edora in the eye, she knew there was no other way. She had to kill her. The woman hit a gong and the two girls began to fight, graceful yet powerful, almost mesmerising to watch. In less than a minute the first girl had the other on the floor, and looking into her eyes, stamped down hard on her neck, instantly breaking it. The other girls clapped, but all the girl could see, could think of was her friend. Her normally bright and curious eyes were dull and lifeless as she lay, unmoving, on the floor. A single tear leaked out of the corner of her eye, mixing with the rain on the floor that had just begun to fall. It wasn't warm anymore, it was cold. She hated the cold. _

I felt the memories end and pulled my powers out of his head, allowing Stark to put his barrier back in place. Fury looked down at me for a minute before leaving. I went back to staring at the wall opposite me, my face expressionless. After around a minute I felt the temperature of the room increase, not by much but enough to be noticeable. I was too preoccupied trying to figure out Fury's game before the door opened again and someone walked in. It was Stark. Great. "You again." I was still highly pissed with him.

"Yes, me again. Fury sent me in to determine whether you're telling the truth or if this is all a set up."

"Fair enough." Whilst I wasn't happy that he was going to have another dig around my mind, I couldn't fault them for being cautious. However I did get curious when he grimaced slightly. I soon found out why as I felt a needle come out from the back of the chair and prick the back of my neck. I went to jump out of the chair and, forgetting about the handcuffs, only succeeded in falling on the floor and dislocating my wrist. The chair was chained down to the floor and I was still connected to it. I was about to ask, well demand really, what he had stuck me with but found no need when I felt my powers weakening before disappearing completely. Fuck. Mutation repellent. I felt the full pain of my wrist as the nerves I had temporarily disabled came back into play.

"Fuck you." I hissed venomously. I was about slip my injured wrist from the cuffs when I felt my conditioning nearly trigger. The handcuffs, of course. I pulled back into myself, trying to force it back down but it was so much harder without my powers. Sensing my discomfort, or maybe just wondering why I wasn't trying to kill him, Stark entered my head. Bad idea. Very bad idea. I felt him instantly recoil and saw him fall to the ground. The door burst open and Natalia entered, obviously thinking I'd somehow hurt him. I looked up at her and she saw my eyes, dark and empty and quickly understood. I scrunched my eyes up, breathing deep and trying to suppress the conditioning. I suddenly remembered about my wrist and grabbed it hard, the pain helping to ground me. I felt it recede to the back of my mind, always present and breathed a sigh of relief. I don't think S. H. I. E. L. D. would take kindly to me murdering Iron Man. I leant back against the chair and opened my eyes. Natalia was standing in the middle of the room and Stark was gone, at least she had some common sense. She looked at my eyes first before speaking.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. It was the handcuffs, just triggered it suddenly. Is Stark-"

"Yeah he's fine." She interrupted me and started taking off the handcuffs. "However, in the glimpse of your mind that he got, he said you were telling the truth."

"And that's enough for you?"

"That and because this isn't the Red Rooms style. Any doubts I had anyway were taken away by you nearly tripping you conditioning."

"Why?"

"Because if you were on an undercover mission they wouldn't risk you triggering it. Really give the game away if you went into a murderous rage and destroyed everything in your path."

"... Fair enough. Where are we going?" She was leading me through halls and corridors but I couldn't figure out where we were headed.

"You'll see." We rounded the corner and I saw there was an elevator at the end of the corridor. I stopped immediately. "No."

"No what?" She was looking at me suspiciously.

"No elevators."

"Ah. Any particular reason or just a unexplained phobia?"

"A mission in London a few years ago, someone cut the belt. Never again."

"Okay." She headed for the stairwell instead. "How long have you been active? I used to be the youngest agent, I graduated at 16 but you said you're 11?"

"Yeah,when you've got powers it helps you speed through training pretty quickly. I graduated when I was 8."

"Wow. I'm - I'm sorry about Edora."

"Emma. Edora was the name the Red Room gave her. Stark showed you the memories then?"

"Yeah." Upon seeing my face she continued, "But only me. He watched to make sure you weren't trying to kill Fury or something and showed it to me afterwards just to check if anything was noticeably off."

"How didn't that trip your conditioning? I understand their methods were less efficient back then but surely its got to have some effect on you."

"Its thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D actually. They couldn't remove the conditioning but they have me some pills that lessen it significantly. It still bothers me and I had to have a time out just to make sure it wasn't going to trip afterwards but it really helps. So, do you have a different name?"

"Yeah, Tanya is my real name but apparently that wasn't 'Russian' enough for them."

"Nice to meet you Tanya, I'm Natasha." She said with an impish grin on her face. I smiled back as we reached the floor she was after and I followed her through the door and along some more corridors.

"How big even is this building? It seems like the whole thing is made out of corridors."

"Trust me, I know." She slowed down when she reached a door and opened it, revealing what looked like an open apartment. "You can have a shower, get changed and then we're going downstairs for some tea, you must be hungry by now." I nodded, looking around. I noticed it was warm and there was an abundance of blankets littering the chairs, floor and bed. She led us to a table. "Come on, weapons off then shower." I grabbed the hem of the dress and brought it over my head. I pulled the underwear off but she knew as well as I did that that was just a cover. I methodically starting taking off all my weapons and laying them on the table. I was surprised that they didn't do this before throwing me in the cell but I think they knew they wouldn't have been able to find all of them and even if they did, I could always conjure more. Speaking of my powers, I was glad to feel them coming back. It must have been only a small dose of repellent.

I had taken all the weapons out of my under layer and was about to take off the skin coloured bodysuit before I hesitated. It wasn't that she would she me in my underwear, I had another layer on under this and there was no such thing as privacy in the red room. I sighed and reached for the discrete zip at the back of the neck before wriggling out of it. I saw her eyes catch the scars on my wrist as well as other numerous scars before noticing the supports around my joints. "I have weak bones. It's a genetic thing I was born with, they couldn't do anything. The serum only returns you body back to its natural state should you get injured, it can't do anything if your natural state is fucked up. It's not usually a problem if I have my supports on."

"I noticed you limping earlier, is that anything to do with it?"

"7 hour training class and the shoes I've been wearing all day don't offer any support which doesn't help." She nodded and picked up the body suit instead. "This has come on since I was there. Thinner, more realistic feeling. I assume it's more effective as well."

"It will stop a bullet and things of the like but blades are too thin for it to work properly. It might slow them down but won't stop them completely. It's more to hide the scars than anything. Here, " I said, taking off the 2 small knives hidden in the small of my back and the garroting wire hidden in the straps of the bulletproof leotard I was wearing. I quickly took my supports off before pointing to the door which I suspected led to the bathroom. "Bathroom?"

"Yeah." She said, still distracted inspecting all the weapons in the small mountain now lying on the bed. I couldn't blame her, there was some pretty cool stuff in there. I went in and after a moment of appreciation for the stylish black and white colour theme, stripped off and stepped into the way too complicated shower. It was already on the hottest setting which made me smile, hot water was a foreign concept at the Red Room. I started the water flow and stood under it for a minute just letting the water wash the day away.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi… Oops? 19 days without posting is bad I know but in my defence… Nah I got nothing. I'm lazy and really unorganised, this has been sitting on my laptop for the past 7 days or so waiting to be uploaded. I don't own marvel or anything to do with it, the only thing that's mine in this are the OC characters and the plot**.** Shout out to LightProud, TinkSenpai, Tick Tock Follow the Clock, Queen of Supernatural Lovers, Goddess-of-the-Forest1013 and EMKC. There should be a new chapter of I'm glad you're alive out in the next week ish but can't promise anything. If you haven't checked out my other stories then please do so and be sure to follow this story if you want to know when I upload a new chapter (I promise it will be quicker this time). As always thanks to everyone that follows or favourites me. **

I was sat on a luxurious leather recliner in Stark's cinema room. Kids on broomsticks zoomed around on the TV in front of me but I wasn't too sure what was really happening. To say I had been surprised when I had been led by Natasha into a wide open space, given a chair and treated like a person was the understatement of the century. No cuffs and everything. The room was rather large, with the wall in front being completely taken up by a screen. It was relatively dark with the flamboyant lights above us having been dimmed. All the avengers seemed to be really big Harry Potter fans, occasionally screaming at the characters in the film. I swear to god I had nearly given Barton a heart attack when I said I had never seen it. Stark was sitting tangled up with Pepper, his girlfriend, on the loveseat and the other avengers were strewn haphazardly around the room.

I was twitchy and anxious, Natasha had banned me from having even a single weapon. Understandable, but annoying. I knew that I was in no danger right now. Discrete ventures into my companions minds had revealed that whilst they were slightly on edge around me, none of them had hostile intentions. Jarvis the AI was watching the airspace and the roads surrounding the tower and would alert us should there be anything suspicious. S.H.I.E.L.D. was watching Russian airspace, watching for any unscheduled or private planes. Not to mention the fact that I was in a room with a god, a monster, a super soldier, 2 assassins and a man who could be covered in a metal supersuit in less than 5 seconds. It wasn't like I was in handcuffs or restrained, it wasn't like I couldn't form any weapon in the world at a second's notice. But the lack of a physical weapon, the reassuring feeling of being able to feel a knife pressing against your thigh was putting me on edge.

Natasha could tell this, I knew. I saw the sidelong glances she gave me as I fidgeted on the couch. I was very tempted just to either summon one of my weapons from the room where they were stored or create a new weapon with my powers but I didn't think that would be appreciated. However much I tried I just couldn't focus on the film. The Red Room would no doubt be coming after me, whether to kill me or to take me back. Even if they didn't, what would happen to me with S.H.I.E.L.D.? I had a meeting with the Director tomorrow where I hoped I would learn my fate. A part of me hoped they could somehow give me a normal life, that I could go to school, have a family and just forget about my past. However I felt that I would go stir crazy if that happened. As much as I hated the Red Room, I loved the adrenaline you got on missions, the rush you got when you got into a firefight. I don't think I could live a normal life with the same boring routine everyday. I just wasn't made that way.

A commotion on the screen brought my attention back to the room. The avengers were on the edge of their seats whilst Harry was being bucked around on his broomstick. I watched the witches and wizards try and thwart Snape in his plans. "It's not Snape doing that, is it?". There was a seconds silence before Stark looked over at me. "How the heck would you know that? You said you had never read or seen them."

"I haven't. But it wouldn't make for a very good film if it was Snape. There's always a plot twist at the end. And yes, he may be doing a curse, but what's to say he isn't doing a counter curse or something?"

"You just pretty much figured out the plot to this movie. I give up." I smirked at the despairing look on his face and noticed the other avengers watching us for a second before turning back to the screen.

"Well it isn't my fault this movie was made for simpletons." Stark started sputtering in disbelief, not only that I had insulted Harry Potter, but that I called him a simpleton. Barton was snickering under his breath and Thor was heartily laughing at Stark's look of indignation. "I am not a simpleton!" Finally stringing words together, Stark was glaring at me whilst crossing his arms, adding to his overall look of a petulant two year old.

"Oh really? Is little diddums Stark a clever little boy? Is he?" I couldn't help myself from teasing him, it was just too funny. By this point Thor was basically on the floor, booming with laughter and none of the other avengers were much better. Stark stuck his tongue out at me before suddenly looking thoughtful. "Ok then smart arse, you, me, IQ test. Now."

He was leading me down a corridor, leaving the other avengers to the movie when he bumped into a man, dressed in a smart grey suit talking on his phone. I expected him to carry on walking and ignore what looked like a normal office worker but he came to a stop beside him. He waited a minute for the tense sounding conversation to end before approaching the man. "Stark, I was just coming to find you. The head of-"

"Yeah never mind that." The man shut his mouth with an audible snap as he was interrupted. "Tanya meet Agent Coulson, Agent Coulson meet Tanya."

"So this is the kid assassin you've taken under your wing, Clint was telling me earlier." As I was standing next to him, I suddenly knew where I had heard his voice before. "You're Barton's handler aren't you?" I asked.

He looked at me warily for a minute . "Yes, I am." He stuck his hand out, presumably for me to shake. "Agent Coulson, nice to meet you." I looked at his hand as though it was a piece of shit that had personally offended me before looking back up to his face and raising an eyebrow. I thought the message was pretty clear myself, I wasn't shaking his hand. "You were on Barton's comms. in Kansas weren't you?"

"Yes, I'm his handler." He looked slightly confused as to where I was taking this.

"You knew there was something off about me, how?"

"Your accent and where you said you were from didn't match up. I did some more investigating and there were no records matching your alias."

"Clever. I wasn't expecting to have company for the mission, there was no need for a reliable cover. I made everything up pretty much on the spot once I saw Barton in the café."

"How did you know he was a spy?"

"You really think I wouldn't recognise the bulge of a holster? Also he was watching the target way too closely for an innocent café customer. Once I did some digging around I soon confirmed my suspicions." He looked at me with a look I couldn't quite identify for a moment before saying his goodbyes and walking off.

Stark took me to a random empty office along a corridor and sat me down on the seat. He fiddled around with the computer for a minute or two before turning around with a flourish. I went through the seemingly never ending test with Stark standing behind me peering over my shoulder. He didn't intervene though, he let me do it by myself. Once I finished picking patterns and sequences and god knows what else, we waited a few minutes for the results. I didn't know what I was expecting, I knew that due to the serum my intelligence was far above average but I wasn't sure by how much. After a few minutes of the annoying loading sign flashing, we got the results. Stark just stopped looking at them. "237?!"

"Is that good?"

"Extremely."

"Oh, cool." He carried on staring at me. "Look, I know I'm awesome and everything, but can we stop with this whole I'm going to stare into your soul and find your darkest secrets thing?" When he continued to stare blankly in my direction I carried on. "It'll be the serum, it's engineered to advance and enhance everything about us, from our hearing to our memories." He looked pretty curious about that and I prepared myself to answer 1001 questions about it.

"So how long can you stay awake for?"

"Er depends on what I'm doing. If I was just lounging around and not doing anything tiring about 3 weeks without sleep. However because of training and missions and all that stuff, I normally sleep about 1 night a week."

"3 weeks?"

"Yup, my record is 26 days but that was a very long stakeout mission. Most operatives from the red room can only go about 1 or 2 weeks but I can easily use my powers to make it longer."

"And how does that work?"

"My powers?"

"Yeah." I sighed before starting to explain. It was pretty complicated how everything worked. There were somethings that I didn't know how they were possible, I could just do it. "My powers are energy manipulation, telekinesis and telepathy. However energy is everywhere, everything is made up from energy. So when I can control the energy that makes up everything and everyone, I can do pretty much anything. Then just standard telekinesis and telepathy, moving stuff and reading minds."

He looked at me for a minute before picking up a pen from the desk beside him. "So can you make this float?" I didn't give him a verbal answer, just started lifting the pen until it was hovering next to his ear. "Can you turn the light out?" Seconds after he said it, I flicked the switch on the other side of the room with my powers. "Cool. You'll probably be tested tomorrow so that's your time to really show off."

"Tested?"

"Yeah, just routine medical and performance exams. I don't quite know how they are going to do it but you'll have a chance to show combat, espionage, shooting, all the usual. There will also be an extensive examination of you just to see what exactly the Red Room did to you." Upon seeing my uneasy look he attempted to reassure me. "Natasha went through the exact same thing you did when she first joined." It didn't work.

After shutting down the computer he led me back to the lounge where the movie was just about ending. We watched Harry waved goodbye to Hagrid as he sailed away on the large scarlet steam train. I glanced at the clock on the wall, 11:30. Following my eye line, Rogers noticed the time as well. "We should go to bed, Coulson is arriving pretty early tomorrow."

Everyone headed to their separate apartments and Natasha showed me to a guest room. We chatted about everything and nothing as I got ready, I had no shame getting changed in front of her. When you've slept in a room with tens of girls for years, you don't really worry about people seeing you in your underwear. I got changed and did my teeth before getting into the bed. "Are you not stretching?"

"Nah, my feet are pretty sure, I'll give them a rest tonight."

"Fair enough." I reached over to the drawer expecting to find handcuffs in there but was confused when it was only a bible, a notepad and some pens. Nice pens though, might just have to misplace one of them. I looked questioning towards Natasha who pulled a pair out from wherever she was hiding them on her body and threw them towards me. "S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't do that." She said. "I don't normally use them anymore, only if I'm really stressed but I know how hard it is to get used to sleeping without them." She was watching me carefully, probably checking if they would trigger my conditioning but looking at them I only felt relief. The idea of sleeping without cuffs was terrifying, I was glad Natasha had foreseen my reaction.

She left the room and turned the light out, I doubted I would sleep but it was worth a shot. I formed a dagger and placed it carefully under my pillow, I knew they might not appreciate it but I wasn't stupid. As much as they claimed S.H.I.E.L.D were the good guys, I doubted they would be above taking me out in my sleep. I had originally planned on reading a book but the bed was so comfy and warm. Compared to the steel beds at the Red Room, this was heaven. It wasn't long before I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

I woke up to muffled voices outside my door and was instantly on alert. I stayed still though, ensuring to keep my breathing deep and even. I listened in to their conversation, they were talking about the best way to wake me up without getting a knife through their heads. Smart them, I have no doubt had I been woken up by someone shaking me or something stupid they would probably be dead by now. I called out to them, letting them know I was awake already. I got ready, putting my weeping angel bodysuit back on. I was careful to destroy the knife I made last night so I didn't scare any maids. Coulson was coming to collect me at 9 for a day's meetings and tests and God knows what else so I had a quick breakfast of some sort of American cereal with little marshmallows in.

I was lead downstairs by Coulson. Compared to his stoic self yesterday, he was very chatty in the car. I did notice he stayed away from the topic of work. I could hardly blame him, I wouldn't trust me either. The windows were darkened and the whole thing just screamed spies. Thankfully, the car didn't have a huge eagle plastered to the side of it like I had imagined it would. The car made its way to what I assumed was the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, albeit slowly due to the rush hour traffic. When we arrived at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, which I was told was called the Triskelion, they blindfolded me. I could tell that the security guards were about to put handcuffs on me before being stopped, probably by Coulson. Instead they tied some rope to my hands, restraining me in the same way they would with handcuffs. Whilst it was pointless, the sentiment was sweet. If I wanted to escape and kill everyone is this building, I could easily do it.

After a few minutes of walking down corridors, I was led into a darkened room. My blindfold was removed and they tied me to the chair. Despite their efforts I knew exactly where I was. You don't become the youngest ever operative to graduate by not counting the corridors. I was settling myself in for another long wait when the door opened, silhouetting Director Fury. He walked around the desk and sat on the other chair. Placing his hands on the desk he stared into my soul. "Let's begin."

Oh dear.


	7. Chapter 7

Hi again, so so sorry for the disappearing act. A lot of nasty coincidences and me being disorganised just all joined together to make my life a pain. I know I said I would have this out on Saturday but I was out most of the day and couldn't find the time to finish it. This chapter gave me a lot of hassle and I'm not very happy with it so sorry if this is a bit more shit than usual. I actually finished this last night to the point I had planned but I write on my phone because my laptop is a clunky old piece of crap and decided to spend most of last night doing a 7 hour update. So I just kept writing, hence why this is like double the length of the rest of the chapters. Please follow and favourite if you enjoyed and want to read more or leave a review telling me what you think. Constructive criticism is more than welcome. Anyway, enjoy. Warnings for some language and slight gore.

State your full name for the record please.

"Tatiana Nikolaeva."

"Middle name?"

"Don't have one."

"Any particular reason?"

"I don't know, it's just what the red room called me. I have no idea what my parents named me. I only have a few faint memories of my parents, the ones that the Red Room couldn't take from me, no matter how hard they tried."

What followed was hours of interrogation. There was a one-way mirror behind me that I knew we were being watched through and multiple cameras mounted on the walls, no doubt recording our conversation. He had started it off with the basic personal questions, before building up into my life at the Red Room and my missions. I told the truth, however painful it might have been. After what felt like hours, there was no clock in the room, the questions were over. Fury had looked vaguely nauseated at some of my stories and whilst I couldn't see the people behind the 'mirror', I assumed they would be in a similar state. A man walked out of the door where Fury had just left and it took me a moment or two to realise it was Captain America or Steve as he had told me to call him. I looked curiously at him, why would Captain America be escorting me from room to room? "Everyone else was too scared that you were going to make their brains dissolve and fall out of their ears."

"... Fair enough." I replied. He held up a rope. "Just about how pointless is this?" I didn't even grace the question with an answer, just disintegrated it in his hands. "OK then, looks like we'll be going without." He walked from the room, gesturing for me to follow. After about 30 seconds of walking, he took me down a short flight of stairs until we were standing in front of a large metal door. "Good luck." He said and walked off. Assuming I was meant to go in, I pushed the door open and walked into the unassuming room. Nothing was out of the ordinary; the only remarkable thing about it was an observation room on the top left side of the room. A large probably bulletproof sheet of glass separated me and the hordes of people starting to flock into the room. I spotted the avengers, right on the from row. Natasha gave me a small smile which I hesitantly returned. I had no idea what they were going to do to me but I pushed the nerves back. I was the weeping angel; whatever they were going to do, I'd definitely had worse. Looking into the room, I estimated there were around 60 people in their, the seats tiered much like a stadium.

After a minute or two of them shuffling around and me awkwardly standing in the middle of the floor, Fury clapped his hands and a hush descended over the observation deck. "Tatiana." He boomed, his deep voice echoing off the walls. I could more than understand how he had become the director. Even his shadow was intimidating. "This is your performance test. The room you are in is a simulation room. You will be put into different situations, each one designed to test a different skill. They will start off relatively easy, slowly increasing in difficulty. Are you ready?"

My nerves dissipated immediately. A test and a very fun sounding one at that. I was more than ready. I confidently nodded. I sent signals through my body, relaxing and stretching my muscles. I had stretched this morning but that was hours away now and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt myself. A button was pressed and the glass changed, tinting into what was presumably a one-way window. A few ominous beeps sounded before a small podium rose out of the floor a meter in front of me, with a single glock and a few rounds of ammo placed neatly on top. I picked up the gun, seeing that it was already loaded. I took it, deciding to play by their rules and actually do what I was meant to rather than go blowing things up willy-nilly. A red square was projected onto the ground around me and the podium sunk back into the ground, the ammo tucked into the various pouches in my bodysuit. Then a long beep sounded and the test began.

The first section, as I had assumed, was shooting. Targets, both moving and stationary, popped up around the room. As it progressed, the red square I was stood in started raising off the floor and twisting around. Although it was designed to throw me off, every bullet hit straight and true. A long beep sounded and everything stopped. Lights appeared on the wall in front of me. "Please place the gun on the ground." it read. I did so, careful not to drop it the surprisingly long distance to the floor of the room. I heard some sounds coming from the ceiling and was momentarily shocked at the large metal beam descending from above. Allowing myself a moment of appreciation at the technology this room was equipped with, I watched as it came to rest next to my platform. Taking the hint I stepped onto it, ignoring the ropes at either end. Fear of heights wasn't really my thing. You weren't really scared of falling when you could literally fly. The second I stepped off the platform, it quickly sunk back to the floor, a net seemingly appearing out of nowhere and taking its place. Chuckling to myself about the sweet but pointless gesture, I once again heard a long beep, signalling the start of round 2.

Round two apparently focused on gymnastics and acrobatics. I decided this was my time to show off, flipping, rolling and leaping between platforms that popped out of the walls. I treated it much like a gym class, throwing the odd unnecessary trick in there. I was proud that I managed to keep my balance, some of the platforms were quite slippery and it would have been far too easy to go that slight bit too 9 far and end up falling. The test went fine, slowly getting harder and harder until it got to the point where I was questioning how on earth a non-gymnast would manage to do this. The Red Room trained us in both ballet and gym and I was suddenly highly thankful for the countless hours I had been forced to spend flipping and tumbling.

After about 5 minutes of this, everything stopped and I assumed I had finished it, when more writing appeared on the wall. "Just one more platform…" I thought nothing of it and looked around to see where it would appear when I spotted it crawling out of the wall at a painfully slow rate. The only issue was that it was the opposite wall, about 4 meters away and 5 meters below where I was currently standing. Up until that point I'd been refraining from using my powers, wanting to complete the test with my genuine abilities rather than cheating. Not that I would class it as cheating, but I'm sure there would be some people in S.H.I.E.L.D. who would disagree with me there. I had no choice for this one though, there was no way I could make that jump, surely there was no way anyone could make that jump? Unless they were like fucking Slender man but for some reason, I doubted that he was one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s assets.

I paused for a moment, deciding what was the most impressive way to do this. I turned around and sprung backwards off the rather small platform i was previously stood on. I continued spinning in the air, somersaulting towards the ground, letting the adrenaline from the fall rush through me. Seconds before I hit the net, I teleported to the top of the room, above the platform they had challenged me to reach. I continued to spin in the air, managing about 5 backwards somersaults before landing perfectly in the middle of the platform. I heard the beep that meant it was over and felt the platform descend to the ground.

The rest of the test continued much the same, testing everything from agility to espionage. I didn't use my powers unless I absolutely had to, and made it obvious when I was using them. I didn't want to be accused of doing things unfairly. As the last section - hand-to-hand combat with a scarily efficient robot - ended, Fury's deep voice sounded over the speakers. "Well Miss Nikolaeva, you completed the performance test. However, we have another small section for you to complete." Oh god I didn't like the sound of that. "It is specially designed for enhanced individuals such as yourself and Stark here."

A small shelf appeared on one of the walls, with 3 objects resting on the wooden surface. One was a small grey rock, perfectly circular. Another was a small glass containing a clear liquid that upon further inspection turned out to be water. Lastly, there was an empty kettle. I floated them over to me, unable to resist the urge to make them do a little dance. When Fury next came over the speakers, I expected instructions, a challenge maybe and what he said next took me off guard. "Give us a show then Weeping Angel." I smirked, taking a step back. If they wanted a show, they were going to get the show of their lives.

Feeling my power build up, I pushed it into the air, conjuring a small thunderstorm in the room. I felt my appearance change on instinct, my usual shoulder length hair creeping down my back, the colour changing from dark brown to black. My eyes darkened also, growing until my entire eyes were black. The usual make up covered my face, blood red tears rolling down my cheeks and settling in place, staining my face red. I knew I was a terrifying sight when in the full Weeping Angel look. Long black nails shot out of my fingers as my skin paled to an off-white ivory that stood out against my now black hair. The Red Room had ingrained the look into me from an early age, muscle memory taking over as I morphed into the killer known as the Weeping Angel. In a blink of an eye, I was no longer Tatiana.

I rose up in front of the storm, creating an impressive flash of lightning that would have illuminated my figure to the audience. I wasn't all that great with flying, it took a lot of effort and concentration to get it just right but the conformable beds and plentiful food has done wonders for my energy levels. I held still for a moment, letting my powers take control before directing them at the small rock on the ground, exploding it in a huge shower of ash and clouds, temporarily hiding the room from view. I dropped to the ground under the cover of the smoke and quickly made myself invisible, hiding in the far corner of the room.

Deciding to go down the _slightly_ weird route, I made a 20-foot banana appear in the room. I made circus music echo through the speakers, overriding the announcement system. A large zip appeared on the side of the banana and 3 men climbed out dressed in red and yellow jester outfits. Flashing circus lights lit up the room and 2 elephants appeared at the back, dancing along with the jesters. The kettle was on the left side of the room, ribbons pouring from its sprout and the glass was being juggled by one of the elephants. 6 Lions were doing a pyramid in the opposite corner and a monkey was blowing bubbles on a floating table above. I mean they asked for a show, may as well give them a circus. It was nothing S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't be used to, from the glimpse I got of the avengers lives, Stark Tower was basically a billionaire's circus.

I suddenly made everything go black, vanishing everything from the room. I made myself visible again as I wrote on the wall, "They're not real, don't worry." I didn't want Mr. America to freak out. 3 people appeared at the other end of the room. They weren't alive, weren't even people really. Just empty shells, a human body with no soul. I really hoped no one in the gallery was squeamish or it would get really messy. I focused on the atoms making up the 'people', for lack of a better word. Manipulating the atoms, the person shrank and changed, bones cracking, blood leaking out of every orifice. As each second passed, they looked less and less like a human, the matter condensing into a small block on the floor that slowly formed into something else. After nearly a minute, what used to be a person was now a screwdriver, made of bones, nails and hair. It was dripping blood, a small pool gathering underneath the newly formed tool. The fate of the next person was much the same, except rather than a screwdriver, an empty paint tin was formed, the handle made of crushed bone and rim from half disintegrated teeth. The last body, standing immobile with a vacant look in the eyes was next, melting down to form a vase, blood vessels creeping around the sides like a nightmarish pattern, severed fingers inching around the top.

I had relinquished control over the speakers when ending the circus act, feeling music may have been inappropriate for morphing human bodies. Fury voice made me jump slightly, having momentarily forgotten I was being watched. "If your show is going to include any more blood then please may we end it here as some of our agents look like they are about to throw up. Stark included." A distant protest coming from Stark made me smirk. Someone is obviously not as tough as they make out. "Don't worry, I was finished anyway. Little Tony Wony won't have to deal with anymore bloody woody. Unless there was something specific you wanted to see?"

"Yeah, I want to see you shut your damn mouth for once." I was admittedly curious how Stark had managed to steal the microphone from Fury, but whatever he did obviously didn't work for long. A small scuffle and it was Fury's voice back over the speakers. "No, that will be all." The windows returned to its original state and the hidden door in the walls opened again. I exited the room to see Steve Rogers leaning against the wall. "Let me guess, everyone else was too scared I was going to turn them into screwdrivers?"

"Pretty much."

LINEBREAK

Next on my agenda was the medical test. How fun. Natasha was waiting for me outside the doors of the medical ward. "What are the chances this is going to trip your conditioning?"

"Pretty high if I'm being honest, my powers are too drained to fight it and it isn't all that effective anyway. They designed it to be resistant to my mutation, at least to an extent."

"Take this." She said, pressing a small white pill into my hand. "It's what I use to keep my conditioning at bay. I don't know how effective it will be for you, their methods are probably a lot more advanced now. It's better than nothing though. I got the medical team's permission; they aren't going to think you're taking drugs or anything." I slightly smiled at her, trying not to fidget. I really wasn't keen on doctors, even being this close to the medical ward was putting me on edge. "Hey," Natasha said, attracting my attention again. "It'll be fine. They are trusted S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors and it's just a check-up, a routine test to determine your overall health. It's nothing like what you're probably imagining, nothing like the Red Room."

"What if I lose control, kill them? I won't hesitate to use my powers if I feel attacked, not if it's taken over. You know how dangerous that could be." I voiced my real fears. I doubted S.H.I.E.L.D. would take kindly to the brutal murdering of their workforce and the chances of me ending in a cell for life would increase tenfold. "I won't let you." I cocked my head at her, raising an eyebrow. "Lose control I mean." Now that made more sense. "If I notice even a single sign, I will personally escort every lifeform out of the room and help you through it. If you notice yourself going though, you need to tell me. Okay?" I nodded and smiled at her, and I think she caught the thank you I couldn't bring myself to say. I wasn't used to people caring about me. The last time someone had cared for me they had ended up dead. At my own hands. I pushed the thoughts to the back of my head and entered the room. Now was not the time to get emotional. I popped the pill and entered the room.

The medical passed slowly, I was constantly on edge, once snarling like a rabid dog when a nurse surprised me. I clamped down on my powers hard, resisting the instinct to lash out at the people just trying to do their job. Natasha was right though, they were nice, friendly, nothing like I was imagining. A couple of scans, some blood tests and a urine test later, the results started coming in. I knew the Red Room had fucked with my body, making it 'stronger' and 'better' but to what extent I never knew. A doctor had the MRI scan back and had barely opened the file when he was cursing with surprise. I sighed, expecting another few long hours ahead of me. It was nearing the evening now, and quite honestly I was tired. The mental effort required to control my powers in such a way as I did had tired me and it'd been a long day of answering Questions. Acting like a bloody performing monkey had never been one of my favourite pastimes and I had a dull ache slowly building in my head that I couldn't quite find the effort to quell.

4 hours of being prodded and poked later, I was finally free. I had to admit I was slightly shocked at just how much the Red Room had altered my body. I didn't remember them doing any of it; they must have removed my memories for some reason. I knew they would have had to do something about my bones, the supports only did so much. Most of the bones in my feet had been coated in a type of metal, my toes almost entirely replaced to ensure they wouldn't break during pointe work. My fingers, hips and ribs were the same. No wonder I'd never managed to break my ribs. The doctors were still having fits over my blood tests when we left. The Red Room's serum had altered my genetic code to the point where they thought they had gotten the vials mixed up. One thing they hadn't been able to find was the conditioning, Natasha said it had been the same with her. They found nothing in the countless scans or tests to imply they had fucked with our minds. The pill had helped though; it wasn't quite as prominent in the back of my head as usual. And I got through it without snapping someone's neck, so that's a plus.

When we were reading to leave and I heard Natasha organising a car, I interrupted. "It's fine, I'll teleport us." She gave me a weird look before nodding, waving off the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "You know where you're going?"

"The lounge of Stark Tower? Scare the living daylights out of everyone?" She nodded, a slight smirk on her face. I grabbed her arm, concentrating on open plan avenger floor. I really had no clue how I could teleport, the Red Room cared that I could do it, not how I could. Just before we landed in the lounge, I made is invisible, and saw the shock in Natasha's eyes when we landed. Looking down and not seeing your own body was a weird experience. I quickly spoke to her telepathically, not wanting to alert the avengers that were strewn across the room. "You want to play a prank?"

"We're invisible?"

"Yup, they can't see is but they can still hear us so we need to be careful." I noted her lack of hesitation in speaking telepathically. She must have had practise with Stark. "Go on then, let's play a game of scare the avenger."

"Will I stay invisible if I break contact with you?"

"Yup, I needed the contact for the teleport, nothing else." She nodded, walking off across the room, seeming to be heading for Barton. I could tell where she was from her mind; I was surprised Stark hadn't sensed us here yet. I looked across to him and saw him wide eyed, staring across to where Natasha was. "Oi." I took great pleasure out of watching him jump, the other avengers looking at him strangely, not having heard me telepathically speak to him. "When the heck did you get here? And are you and Tasha invisible cus I swear I can sense her over by Barton."

"Yup, she's going to scare him." I felt Starks amusement and watched him subtly redirect his gaze to Barton. Seconds later, Barton jumped off the chair, drawing a knife, seemingly out of nowhere, facing behind the chair he had just been sat on. I could feel Natasha trying not to laugh, her thoughts were louder than anyone else's because we were linked through the invisibility. The rest of the avengers were instantly on guard, following Clint's lead of drawing weapons even though they could see no enemy. Barton looked confused at the lack of bad guys behind the chair but quickly jumped back again when Natasha once again poked the back of his neck. He was facing the other direction now, giving Natasha the perfect opportunity to swipe his feet out from underneath him. I communicated my thoughts to her, watching in amusement as Barton seemingly fell over for no particular reason. That was the point she lost it, bursting out laughing. I quickly made her visible again, not wanting the other avengers to shoot her once she had revealed her position. It took them a minute to recognise her, all sinking back into their seats glaring at Barton. I saw him grumpily about to sit down once again, and quickly formed a popper, a small harmless explosive. They were usually novelty jokes or used at fairs but after a mission in an English fairground, I had become low key obsessed with them, using whenever I deemed appropriate. I chucked it on the seat, grimacing at the thought of exploding one of those with your but. Thankfully, none of the avengers noticed it and I watched Clint sit down, still invisible in the corner. Seconds later he jumped up, screaming like a girl as it exploded beneath him. Everyone jumped at the small bang it gave off, Natasha being the only one with enough self-control to refrain. I quickly gave up my invisibility, barely smothering my laughter as Clint grimaced and rubbed his backside. He glowered at me and Natasha, as the rest of the avengers laughed, finding the situation hilarious after the initial shock.

I settled down on an empty seat, surprised to see that even after my little display this afternoon I was still free from cuffs. There was a strange movie playing I'd never seen before, although that was most American movies really. I laughed at the avengers shouting tactics at the hero and criticising his decisions. Upon hearing Bruce complain about the lack of popcorn, I conjured a huge bowl of popcorn in the middle of the table different sections marked different flavours and I laughed slightly as all the avengers faces lit up with pleasure. Steve turned his head towards me when I didn't make a move to get anyway. 'I don't like popcorn.' I replied, expecting it to be no big deal. Nope. Everything stopped, all the avengers staring at me as if I'd grown a second head. I was suddenly very tempted to actually grow a second head but managed to refrain. Stark was the first to speak up. "You. Don't. Like. Popcorn?" I shook my head, confused why this was such a big deal. I'd tried it once in a movie theatre, confused as to why everyone had buckets of weird looking... things. I'd tried one piece and thrown the rest away, disgusted at how people could eat whole buckets. It did help me later in the mission though, the target choked to death before I could even touch him. The avengers suddenly gained my attention again when there was a commotion near the popcorn bowl. Clint had picked up the meter wide popcorn bowl and was heading my way with a determined look on his face. Oh, shit.


End file.
